Month: January 2018

We all know that there are 24 hours in a day. We sleep for 6-8 of these hours so that only leaves 16-18 hours to get something accomplished. With these remaining hours we need to find a balance. How we divide up our time with these remaining hours plays a huge role in our success.

We can not spend all of our time sitting on the couch playing video games or watching football or Game of Thrones though it is important to have some down time to just relax.

We can not just spend 16 hours working then our families suffer because we are never at home. We need to find a balance; we need to establish priorities.

It is very easy to justify why we are spending so much time in one area:

I am working long hours for my family; mean while you have missed your son’s Little League Game or

I deserve to sit on the couch and do nothing because I work hard all day; mean while your marriage is going down the drain because your significant other feels neglected.

It is all about priorities and balance.

Ask yourself what are your priorities in life?

When you evaluate your priorities you should see if the way you are using your time is making money or causing you to lose it.

Maybe you will need to establish new priorities: such as God, family, work, recreation, school etc.. Once you have established your priorities; then determine how many hours you need to divide up amongst these priorities.

If you work an 8 hour job, there goes 8 hours plus your travel time, five days a week.

How much time do you have left for your other priorities?

Sometimes 2 priorities can be combined – you can have family time while going out to a movie or taking a hike. This combines family and recreation.

But most times you need to commit your time, 100% to the priority you established.

When you are at work; your boss deserves your 100% commitment. That means arriving on time, watching the length of your breaks… It does not mean spending time on your cell phone or going out for a long lunch when you should be working. My friend bosses notice who is working and who is a slacker and when it comes time for promotions guess who is going to get the promotion.

Another way to get noticed on a job is to increase your knowledge. Spend some of your balanced priority time learning. Listen to Podcasts, read a good book, go on line and take some courses. (Surging Forward. Com) There is so much out there today.

By using your time in a wise and balanced way you can become successful at work, at home, and around the neighborhood. You will also find that you are not as stressed out so your health will improve which will increase your energy level which will then improve your work and family life. It is just a big circle of success starting with you realizing that Your Time is Your Money and as you learn this it will keep you Surging Forward.

How you handle your relationships can either take you to the next level or bring you down.

Lately it seems that relationships are keeping people down. They either have had a bad relationship or they think have a good relationship, yet they have no one to talk to. They feel alone and that nobody cares. Just because you have likes on your Facebook Page does not mean that you have true relationships. People walk around acting as if life is good and that they do not have a care in the world, but all of us go through struggles and have difficult times. All of us struggle with self–esteem issues wondering does this person like me, is my nose too big, or are my eyes weird or whatever. These are real issues that all of us struggle with.

Some people may claim that they want to help you out, but when someone comes forward especially over the internet people come out of no where bashing and joking and giving the person a hard time. Mob mentality and cyber bullying begins. Whatever happened to the old saying “if you have nothing nice to say then don’t say anything at all.” What does this saying mean? It means if you are not uplifting someone; if you are not saying something decent then why are you bothering to say something. There is no reason to tear others down. We are not talking about good natured kidding because we all have to be able to laugh at ourselves sometimes, but we are talking about people that viciously attack others on Social Media. These people overly exaggerate or say things that are completely untrue. And most times they don’t even know the person that they are saying the hurtful things about. Are these healthy relationships? Absolutely not and when you respond to these people you are egging it on even more. It is sad but people will share a negative message before they will share a positive one.

This Surging Forward Podcast was started to help you to create a positive you in a negative world. We can only make choices for ourselves. Many good people get sucked into the negative. They attack someone else so that they can avoid getting attacked themselves. We feel so insecure in our own lives that when we see someone else going through a struggle we jump in on that band wagon that way no one is bothering us. But this just sends us down a spiraling rabbit hole and before long we find ourselves on the other end of the spectrum and all those so called friends are gone.

What if more people started to encourage more people? Often this does not happen because people do not have healthy relationships. They feel alone and they don’t want to take a step out, because they are afraid that they will be picked on if they are wrong. No one knows everything about everything. And don’t feel like you have to know everything. That is what relationships are about; people helping people. Have you ever been in a relationship with people that can influence you? They bring you up when you are down. They stand by your side when you make a mistake. Relationships are only good if they help you through the rough times. Having a positive relationship is what gets you through those difficult times. My pastor made a statement that who you follow defines who you are and who you are defines who you will follow.

Even when it comes to religion it is all about a relationship. You may know people that do a lot of good things and try to be a good person, but if you don’t have a relationship and all you have is “religion” then who is going to stand in your court to help you when times get tough. It is all about a relationship.

Life does get tough, but you can keep Surging Forward by continuing to take life one step at a time to create a positive you in a negative world. Only you can make choices for you.

Dealing with authority or inspectors is not something that we always like to do. When we are dealing with someone in authority we can feel intimidated or feel like they are out to get us. When dealing with those in authority we need to show them respect. You do not have to like or even respect that person, but you still need to know how to deal with that inspector or boss. You may disagree with something that they are requiring you to fix, but you still have to abide by their authority in most cases.

How do we deal with those in authority that we do not like? Sometimes those in authority cost you time, money, or they may have embarrassed you by calling you out in public about something you did, or you just do not like them. How do you deal with this type of person?

The first thing we all need to remember is that everyone has a boss. We all have someone we need to report to; to be accountable to. Some may say that they work on their own so they do not have a boss; but this is not true for their client or customer is their boss. The customer may decide not to pay because they were not satisfied with the job. Bottom line is that none of us like to be corrected or called out and told that we did something wrong. We do not like to be embarrassed or talked down to. There are good bosses and bad bosses. There are good inspectors and bad inspectors. How you react to each is a choice that you make. Never let a bad inspector or leader force you to make a bad decision. Once you make that bad decision that bad leader or inspector has control over you and your life.

You do not have to like the person that is in authority over you, but you do have to respect their position. You do not always have to respect the person, because a person needs to earn that respect. If you want to be a better person or leader realize that you can learn more from a bad leader or inspector in regards to how you should deal with authority then you can from a good leader.

I have heard people say “I have no respect for that inspector or leader. Every time I have to deal with him my whole day is messed up.” In this case you are allowing someone that you are forced to interact with influence your actions and ruin your day.

The person in authority deserves you to respect their position. They are in that position to give you direction, to provide you with information, or simply to pass or fail your installation. They are responsible for keeping you and others safe on the job, or teaching you how to perform a task. You need to respect their position, but not necessarily the person. They need to earn that respect.

When I say respect the position; it simply means to allow that person, which may not have a very good way of dealing with people, a little more room to save face. Why should I give a person I do not like room to save face? All of us have a need to feel important this was discussed on Episode 63.

How do you deal with these people who are giving you a hard time?

The first thing you need to do is to diffuse the situation. Do not make something bigger out of it than it really was. Be a listener more than a reactor.

Ask yourself:

Is this person asking you to work in unsafe conditions?

Is this person asking you to do something morally wrong?

Is this person asking you to do something that might hurt you or your family?

Is this person asking you to do something that might ruin your reputation?

If the answer is “no”, then do not take the stress from that person in authority. Maybe he is caring something bad in his life. Do not let him put that heavy load on you. Just break down and do what needs to be done to satisfy the situation and move on. Dealing with people can be tough because everyone has a different opinion on everything. But it is not up to us to force someone to make a choice to do something they do not want to do.

What if the answer is “yes” to the questions above, then how do you diffuse the situation?

One of the ways to diffuse the situation is to agree to disagree. If you are told to do something that is unsafe, do not lose your cool, but back up your reason for your position with facts. An inspector can not make you do something just based on their opinion of whether they like you or not. They have a set of guidelines that they need to follow also.

If an issue can not be solved this way, you can take the issue to someone above and explain your position, again with facts. Remember, everyone has a boss. It is not worth the time or headache of losing your cool over this one incident. We all make our own choices and sometimes due to someone else’s actions we allow somebody else to make the choice for us by losing our cool. If somebody else can cause you to feel bad and get you angry then believe it or not they are actually in control of you. But you are the one who is going to pay the consequences for losing control. If you get angry with an inspector, your job is not going to get passed. If you get angry at your boss, then you could get fired.

There are ways to handle the situation without losing control. You can agree to disagree. Give the facts of why you think that this is against code, why you think it is unsafe or why you feel uncomfortable telling a lie. You may have to take the situation to HR, but there are better ways of dealing and not losing control.

A confrontation today may affect a promotion that you were going to get tomorrow. You can only make choices based on what you do. Do not let other people force you into a bad situation. When people are in a bad mood they love to suck as many people as they can down that rabbit hole. This gives them the fuel for their fire as they live in their negative world. There are people out there that look happy, but they are not or that look like they have it all together and they really do not. Our slogan here at Surging Forward is to Create a Positive You in a Negative World. We are here to help one person at a time.

Only you can make a choice about your life. It does not mean that you are always happy, because sometimes life just does not go right, but you can help create a positive situation just by diffusing a negative situation. Keep Surging Forward!

Many people spend time making goals while many people just spend time doing nothing. They feel taking a chance is to Risky. What if doing nothing at all was actually what had the most risk? Making a choice to be better off is not really taking a risk, it is being ready for the unknown things in life that will happen. It is all about choice. Join me today as I talk about making a choice to take a risk.

What is you outlook on your job, life, or those around you? Join me as I continue to discuss some of the biggest Hurdles that you feel keep you from succeeding in the Trades or on your job. How to you see things around you and how do you feel about yourself. What is the biggest thing that is needed to succeed? Each day, each week, each month and even each year provides you with an opportunity to make a choice. Decide today what you will do to Keep Surging Forward. As usual I look forward to your comments. I would also be very honored if you would share this with someone that would like to move forward in their career.